Oligometastatic breast cancer. When is the time for local treatments?

Metastatic breast cancer is considered an incurable disease, the treatment of which is based on systemic approaches such as chemotherapy, hormonal, targeted and immunotherapy, depending on the biological subtype of the tumor. To determine the extent of the tumor process, imaging research methods are always required to identify a group of patients with oligometastatic disease. Some studies indicate a more favorable prognosis in these patients. The use of local treatment methods, such as surgical or radiotherapy, can potentially improve the prognosis and increase the life expectancy of these patients. At the same time, optimization of systemic therapy approaches should be a priority to obtain the maximum antitumor response. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine in advance which patient will benefit the most from local treatment, but nevertheless many cases with long periods of absence of disease progression are described. Additional prospective studies are needed to assess which patients can benefit the most from the addition of local treatments.